The text this morning is from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, the 15th chapter:
I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperisahable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.Thus far the text.
Dear Judy, Lee, Gary, and my dear friends in Christ,
If you knew Sis, you knew her laugh. I was remarking to her family the other day that it is sort of this combination between a light-hearted cackle and a giggle. And it was somewhat infectious. When you heard it, you couldn’t help but chuckle to yourself. It was just very sweet.
But as time went on with Sis, as I went to go and visit her, the laughs were further in-between. It wasn’t because life wasn’t funny or there wasn’t humor, just that it was harder for Sis to laugh, or to talk, or to really do too much of anything she’d done before. The reason why is simple: she was approaching her death.
Sis knew, as I think many of us did, that she was quickly approaching the day when she would close her eyes in the sleep of Christ. She was perishing, she was perishable, for Sis was a sinner, as are we all. This also, I think, doesn’t surprise any of us.
We know that, in this life, we shall have these perishable bodies for the consequence to our sin, both that which has infected our nature and that which we have committed. We will deal with that. That’s why we mourn today, and it’s why we miss Sis. But that’s not the end of the discussion. If it were, we would have no hope.
God in Christ saw this plight of humanity, and for the sake of Sis, and for your sake, committed Himself to enter into human flesh, that He might bear our sin, Sis’ sin, and be our Savior, Sis’ Savior. And so He came to die. He would live the perfect life of obedience for Sis and for you, He would die the sinner’s death for Sis and for you, and He would rise into newness of life for Sis and for you.
And this is our hope today. That Christ is raised from the dead is the greatest of hopes, for it is a sure thing. Paul even tells us, elsewhere, that if Christ is not raised, we are most to be pitied. But, if Christ is raised, and He certainly is, then we are most to be envied, for we have life eternal in His name. We have no fear of death or destruction. We have no fear of uncertainty or false hope. Christ is raised from the dead! Alleluia!
When Paul says that the perishable cannot inherit the kingdom of God, he’s right. Sis, with all of the sin she had infecting her body, worse than any disease, could not enter into the kingdom of God by her power. But, in her death, death which to her was a portal, for walking through the door of death brought her face-to-face with her Lord, in her death, she put on the full righteousness of Christ. By her death, the Lord fulfilled to Sis all of His promises. Through her Baptism, through her reception of His Supper, through the very Absolution, through all this, through the cross of Christ forgiving all of her sins and counting her righteous for Christ’s sake, death brought to her the fullness of the promises of Christ: she shall live forever.
Well, perhaps not the fullness. For that day, the day when all, all the promises of Christ will be fulfilled is yet coming. Christ is faithful to Sis and to you. Sis is with her Lord even now. Yet, Sis is also still here with us. Here is her body, broken into ashes as it waits for the Lord’s Resurrection. Her soul is with Jesus. But the day is coming, says God, when soul and body will be reunited, brought back together, that she may live as she was intended to live, perfectly, at peace, with her Lord Jesus Christ forever.
For though she was perishable in this life, in the life to come, she will have put on all that is imperishable. She will have put on Christ. She will look back at this week and cry out, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” It’s gone. There is no victory of death for she shall be raised from the dead, as will you. And there is no sting of death, for indeed, she will be given eternal life. She will have the victory of Jesus Christ, His vindication, His resurrection, and she will live forever and ever.
The trumpet shall sound, the dead shall be raised, and she will put on the imperishable Christ. For there Christ will be, ready to give Sis a hand out of her grave. And there Christ will be for you, too. He shall uncover your resting place, your sleeping place, and He shall command you to come out, and there you will blink open your eyes and see, with two fleshly, bodily, but no undying, undimming eyes, your Lord, the Lord your body and soul cry out for even now. You shall have the whole victory of God in Christ Jesus at that very moment.
And there we shall be joined with Christ, with Sis, with her husband, Al, with Harry, and with all the saints of Christ, and live with them, and with Christ, for eternity in blessed peace, where there is no more death, no more grief, no more sorrow. There we shall have all that Christ would give us in His imperishable peace. There we shall have Christ, and we shall join with Sis in her laughter once again, as we look at the old toothless death, who once did us a favor to bring us to Christ, but now does nothing but lie under the feet of Jesus. We will laugh with Sis, we will laugh with Christ. The day is quickly coming. Come quickly, Lord Jesus, to bring us this day. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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